Britain authorizes Merck's covid-19 treatment pill molnupiravir, in the world's first approval
Source: Washington Post
Merck has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Agency for emergency use authorization (AP)
LONDON - Regulators in Britain granted approval to the experimental drug molnupiravir from U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck on Thursday, marking the first authorization from a public health body for an oral antiviral treatment for covid-19 in adults.Experts say that if widely authorized, molnupiravir could have huge potential to help fight the pandemic: Pills are easier to take, manufacture and store, making them particularly useful in lower- to middle-income countries with weaker infrastructure and limited vaccine supplies.
“We will continue to move with both rigor and urgency to bring molnupiravir to patients around the world as quickly as possible,” Merck president Robert M. Davis said in a statement announcing the U.K. approval.The company has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Agency for emergency use authorization, while the European Medicines Agency has launched a rolling review of the oral antiviral medicine. It said it was also working to submit applications to other regulatory agencies.
A global clinical trial showed the pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by nearly half among higher-risk adult coronavirus patients diagnosed with mild to moderate illness, Merck — which worked on the drug with partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics — said last month. The first dose given to a volunteer in the trial was administered in the U.K.Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Center at the Graduate Institute of Geneva, called the U.K. authorization “a big step forward.” “I would say it’s very significant in terms of giving patients and the public a large confidence that this treatment can be widely used,” she said.
The U.K. has been known during the pandemic for its speed in authorizing vaccines. The country became the first in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine that had been tested in a large clinical trial when it granted emergency-use authorization to the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine last December. The U.S. government has made an advance purchase of 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir at a cost of roughly $1.2 billion, or roughly $700 per treatment course. Australia, Singapore and South Korea have also made purchase agreements.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/11/04/covid19-pill-merck-molnupiravir-approval-uk/
Full headline: Britain authorizes Merck’s covid-19 treatment pill molnupiravir, in the world’s first approval of drug
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